This invention relates generally to incinerators and more particularly concerns a small volume, watercooled rotary incinerator.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,651, issued July 9, 1974, discloses a form of incinerator that has been become known as a combustor. Such combustors burn municipal waste in rotary, water cooled drums; with the cooling water system generating steam for direct use for power generation. Combustors of this type have proven effective for large volume incineration, on the order of over 100 tons of material per day. While these designs have generally not been suitable for scaling down for low volume usage, I have also invented another small volume water-cooled rotary incinerator, which is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,971, issued Oct. 31, 1989.
Waste disposal of all kinds has become a critical concern, and there is a need for an incinerator suitable for hospital or small industry use that can dispose of material at rates less than 25 tons per day. Further, certain applications may present special problems due to the particular characteristics of the waste to be disposed. For example, contaminated waste from hospitals may contain disease and germ carrying liquids and solids, as well as other miscellaneous items, such as dirty needles, which may transmit contagious diseases. The problem of hospital waste disposal has become particularly acute due to infection problems associated with the AIDS virus.
Although this type of waste must be bagged in specially-coded bags, problems can arise if the bags are mishandled or punctured. As a result of the above concerns, mechanical loading methods, such as those using ram feeds, may be inappropriate for use in loading hospital incinerators because they may squeeze the bag or other waste holding container, resulting in the release of contaminated liquids and solids. Moreover, inasmuch as mechanical rams operate at room temperature, these contaminated liquids and solids may not be burned off during the normal incineration process and, accordingly, may present health risks associated with regular loading and system maintenance.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a small compact incinerator that efficiently burns a wide variety of combustible material. It is a related object to provide an incinerator of this kind that is water cooled and capable of generating steam for useful energy. A further object is to provide an incinerator in which waste to be disposed feeds to the burning chamber without the aid of a mechanical ram.